


and i was your silver lining (but now i’m gold)

by thispapermoon



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017), The Worst Witch - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, F/F, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Growing Pains, Hicsqueak, Jealousy, SO VERY GAY, That Gold Dress, The Lever’s Ball, Tumblr Prompts, but Pippa has always loved the moon, got Hecate all hot and bothered, growing up gay is hard af, poor pippa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-13
Updated: 2019-03-13
Packaged: 2019-11-17 15:19:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18101147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thispapermoon/pseuds/thispapermoon
Summary: “Did you really think that I wore a gold dress to the Lever’s ball just to spite you?” Pippa’s fingers move restlessly from where they thread through Hecate’s own. “You weren’t even going that night, as far as I knew. I wouldn’t have ever tried to upstage you, you know that, don’t you?”****Tumblr prompt: Hecate is oblivious about how attractive she is. Pippa tries to be supportive of her friend but is kinda jealous.





	and i was your silver lining (but now i’m gold)

**Author's Note:**

> Lovely tumblr anon, who art thou?! this is for you! 
> 
> <3

Pippa finishes swiping gold powder over her eyelids and pauses to study herself in the mirror. She twists a wisp of hair around her finger that’s come free from her intricate upswept coif, frowning at herself in the mirror until it curls more pleasingly against her cheek. Rising, she examines her reflection with a critical eye.

The gold frock she’s wearing clings to her just so, tight across her abdomen, sleek across her hips. The thin straps glitter against her skin, drawing attention to her clavicles and accentuating just what she wants to be accentuated. The dress is cut attractively, not too low, but only just high enough to still be intriguing for anyone who cares to be intrigued.

But there’s only one person who Pippa cares to intrigue. And she shan’t even be at the Lever’s Ball tonight.

Sighing, Pippa picks up her maglet and writes,

_Are you sure you won’t come tonight? I can lend you a dress._

There’s no reply, and after a few minutes Pippa huffs regretfully and places the maglet back on her dresser, sweeping stray glitter off her cheeks as she takes one last looks look in the mirror. She feels giddy and apprehensive - as if she’s knows she’s supposed to enjoy the evening, knows that the school dance is something she’s supposed to look forward to - but inside she’s thinks she’s a bit more emotionally jumbled than she ought to be. Everyone expects her to be excited. To smile, and laugh, and mingle with ease. But without Hecate beside her, she knows it will be all wrong. It always is.

She checks her maglet again and bites her lip over Hecate’s continued silence. No matter how much Pippa has cajoled, Hecate’s insistence that dances are frivolous and a waste of one’s time means that she will be spending the evening in the quiet of the library and not by Pippa’s side. And lately Pippa’s wondered _why_ it feels so very wrong to go about her life in a Hecate-less manner. She supposes it’s growing up. Growing different from your best friend. Growing independent.

But she doesn’t want to be independent, she thinks, leaning close to the mirror to wipe a smudge of lipstick caused by biting her lip. She wants Hecate.

And that’s all there is to it. The Lever’s Ball be damned.

With a curl of her fingers, she finds herself in the library surrounded by tall shelves and even taller ceilings. She’s in the advanced potions section - because of course she is - and she spins on the spot, only to come up empty. The table where Hecate can almost always be found is vacant. All of the library is vacant, in fact. It’s cool, and quiet, and she shivers at how suddenly ill at ease and out of place she feels wearing nothing more than a slip of fabric in the drafty, formal hall.

She peeks around shelves and down isles. Hecate is nowhere to be found. Turning again, she lets out a gasp as she comes nose to nose with the wizened and bespeckled Madame Hues. The librarian doesn't have to speak, merely glares at her, and Pippa transfers with a sharp noise of surprise, landing outside Hecate’s door.

“Go away, Pipsqueak.”

Heart still hammering, Pippa frowns. “How did you know it was me?”

“You live up to your nickname, truly, if you must know.”

Hecate’s voice is muffled by the door and Pippa cocks her head.

“Are you alright? I thought you said you’d be in the library. Instead I just found Halloween Hues and you _know_ she doesn’t like me. I think you’re the only student that woman has ever even smiled at -

There’s silence on the other side of the door and Pippa leans against it, listening. “Hiccup?”

“Go to the ball, Pippa. I’m fine.”

Pippa shifts restlessly, hating how close Hecate is and yet how the simple barrier between them makes her feel so cut off from her. Hecate’s been acting more and more mysterious lately, and Pippa’s unsure what to make of it.

“I can hear you thinking,” Hecate calls through the wood. “Please, go to the ball. You needn’t always fuss over me so.”

“I wasn’t - I don’t -“ Pippa closes her mouth then opens in again on a sharp sigh. Her fingers go to the back of her dress and in a twitch the zipper is halfway down. “I was just hoping to you could do up the back of my dress.” She bites her lip, and shifts from foot to foot, a strange shiver in her stomach at the thought of Hecate’s long, cool fingers against her back.

There’s silence.

And then, “You’re a witch, are you not, Pippa? Do it yourself. Or get Hattie Bluestone or Alice Mayfield to do it. I’m busy.”

_Busy?_

Pippa blushes, furious with herself. “Busy with wh -“

“Pippa!” Hecate sounds thoroughly irritated, and Pippa leaps away from the door in alarm.

“I - I’m sorry?” She hates how her voice trembles, hates how new this sharp tone is from Hecate. Well - not new - Hecate’s exasperation with the general population of Spugwell’s is legendary. But it’s a tone that’s never been turned towards Pippa.

“Just go, Pippa.” Hecate sounds odd and Pippa wants to open the door, look her in the eye and ensure that they’re okay. Instead she hangs her head and despondently tugs up her zipper herself.

“Okay,” she whispers. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

She stands for a full minute, listening to Hecate move around in the room behind her. When she says nothing else, Pippa sighs, unsure why she feels like crying, and transfers herself to the ball.

______

The music is bright, the hall vibrant. The girls in the room look like a veritable garden of flowers, clad in every color possible, so different from the daily black of their school robes it makes Pippa squint at the shock of brightness. She circles the perimeter, gathering her bearings, waving at fellow classmates now and then, eyeing the girls from Cackle’s and from Amulets and ignoring the wizards from Waxton’s.

They don’t avoid her, however, and she hasn’t been there longer than five minutes before she has a brood of them around her. She blushes, stomaching aching slightly when Alice Mayfield catches her eye and glares at her. Pippa watches her whisper something to Hattie Bluestone and they both laugh.

A tall, broad shoulder wizard catches her arm and Pippa struggles not to jerk it back, freezing as he grins down at her.

“I know who you are,” he drawls, “Aphrodite, right?”

It takes everything in her not to roll her eyes. “Actually, no.” She does remove her arm from his grasp then, eyes darting around the room for an excuse to move away. This never would have happened if she’d come with Hecate, she thinks in frustration.

The boy’s grin changes slightly and Pippa feels suddenly sick with discomfort.

“No need to be so cold,” he smirks, “you must want some help warming up.” He touches her lower back and she stumbles out of range.

“ _No,_  I - I - excuse me.” Not even bothering with pretense, she turns and strides towards the punch bowl, plucking up a glass and filling it with hand that shakes so much that the juice slops everywhere.

“Careful, dear,” Miss Ambrose catches her wrist and Pippa, nerves jangling, drops the glass entirely.  

“Oh, my dear Miss Pentangle,” the Magical Comportment teacher tuts, looking at her in despair, “Your mother writes me weekly for updates on your progress. She really is hoping that I’ll be able to make a _lady_ of you. But, my dear, the effort really needs to come from you first. Dropping glasses, rough housing at broomball on a weekly basis - getting skinned knees and tearing your dress - Mrs. Pence has only just told me that you’re planning on flying in the _water skiing tournament_ with that Hardbroom girl tomorrow.”

Miss Ambrose mops at the table cloth in a highly put-upon display and then snaps her fingers so that the fabric dries in an instant. “You’re not a child anymore, almost a grown witch in full,” she sighs disparagingly. “You wouldn’t want the young men here knowing you’re a butter fingers, would you? Your future husband could be in this very room - after all it is where your mother met your father. I remember it like it was yesterday. What a lovely match - and I’m sure you’ll equal it, my dear.” She eyes Pippa, looking suddenly quite sly. “I saw you speaking with Maxwell Montbank just now. An excellent match to be sure, very well know family. You’re mother will be so pleased.”

Stomach turning, Pippa backs away. She can hardly mutter an excuse as she retreats. Spinning around, she gasps to find that Hattie and Alice have boxed her in. Mabel Primrose and Angelique Oakthorn appear on either side of her, with Sarah Webmore edging in beside Alice.

“Pippa,” Alice starts, her voice sweet. “Pippa, darling.”

“Alice.”

Hattie lets out a giggle and bites her lip, cheeks pinking. “You’re friends with Hecate Hardbroom.”

“Y - yes?”

Apprehension fills her and she takes a gulp of air, trying to steady herself after the growing unpleasantness of the evening.

Sarah nudges Alice. “What can you tell us about her?” Alice voice is high, and Pippa frowns.

“Why do you want to know - so you can play more nasty tricks on her?” She crosses her arms. “Your jokes aren’t funny.”

All five of them flush. “No, dear.” Hattie gives a shrill laugh and Pippa notes that their eyes keep flicking away from her. “Nothing like that.”

“It’s just that I like her to show me a few tricks,” Angelique mutters and Mabel elbows her, their eyes still glancing just behind Pippa. “She’s such a clever witch, is she not?”

“Can you introduce us?”

Pippa frowns. “To Hecate? Mable, you’re in the same chanting class. Have been for years - what - ?”

The girls all giggle suddenly, blushing further. Sarah is squeezing Alice’s arm so hard that her knuckles have all gone white.

“Oh _Merlin_ , she’s looking this way -“

“Don’t look _back,_ you goose -“

“She’ll _see_ us -“

“Well, I _want_ to be seen -“

“Shhhhh -“

“Mable - “

“Alice - “

“She’s _so - “_

“I _know - “_

“She’s _just_ -“

“I _know_ \- “

“Pippa, please? You’re the only one she talks to. Please?”

At a loss, Pippa stares at them.

“I’d _die_ to go on a broomstick ride with her -“

Angelique mutters something about a ‘ride’ that Pippa can’t quite make out and the girls snicker, clinging to each other as she edge closer into Pippa’s space.

She can feel her lips move but her brain isn’t forming any words. “I doubt you’d convince her, even if you were to start being nicer to her. Hecate doesn’t like doubles. It’s been a nightmare convincing her to sign up for the water skiing competition with me - “

The girls look at her in awe. “You get to ride with her?”

“Yes?”

“Your _arms_ are around her _waist_?”

Pippa blushes. “What on earth is this all about. You really shouldn’t tease Hecate, you know.”

“What does she smell like,” Sarah asks abruptly, eyes fixed on Pippa’s face. In fact, all eyes are suddenly fixed on Pippa’s face.

“Smell - ?” Pippa shakes her head. “Look, I don’t know what you’re playing at, but stop. This is the very reason Hecate won’t come to events like this - why she stayed at home this evening. You’ve all made her life just about miserable and -“

“But she’s not home this evening.” Angelique is suddenly looking at Pippa like she’s simple.

“Pardon?”

“She’s not at home. She’s here. Over there. She’s been glaring this way for the past ten minutes.”

Pippa whirls around.

There, in the corner of the room, Hecate Hardbroom stands wrapped in a pale silver gown. It flows across her body like liquid moonlight, highlighting her narrow waist and complimenting her dark features.

Oh.

 _Oh_.

Suddenly unable to breath, Pippa sways slightly on the spot. Sarah releases Alice and grabs Pippa instead.

“Why is she looking at you like that?” Hattie sneers.

“Maybe she needs a new best friend,” Angelique murmurs and Sarah’s suddenly squeezing the blood out of Pippa’s arm.

“Please take me over to meet her? Please?”

“You put a frog in her shoe after witch ball last week, Sarah,” Pippa says automatically, mind nearly blank with how hard it is to breath. “I doubt she’ll be asking you to dance.”

“We didn’t know she looked like _that,”_ Mable sighs. “We would have been playing different games with her if we knew she looked like _that.”_

Wrenching her arm away from Sarah, Pippa turns on them. “There will be no _games_.” She seethes, stomach cramping. “Hecate’s not a plaything - you can’t bully her for years and then - “

“Expect to _snog her_?” Angelique giggles and Hattie rolls her eyes.

“Like she’d snog you,” Hattie simpers. “Hecate’s very serious isn’t she? She’s not going to go for someone one who didn’t even place in potions last semester.”

“Well, at least _I’d_ get her to loosen up -“

“I’d _love_ to loosen her up,” Mabel smirks.

“Stop it!” Pippa stamps her foot. “Stop it all of you. Hecate - Hecate doesn’t - she doesn’t _want_ \- she’s not _like_ that,” she chokes out, heartbeat nearly too painful to speak properly.

Angelique eyes her. “Just because she’s too in love with you to notice the rest of us, doesn’t mean you get to keep stringing her along, Pip.”

Fire courses through her stomach. “Wha - _what?_ ”

Alice sniggers. “Don’t pretend you haven’t noticed.”

“I - I - “

“The only reason she’s looking over here,” Hate mutters, looking Pippa up and down competitively, “is that she can’t keep her eyes off you.”

“It’s not very nice of you to give her false hope,” Sarah takes her hands and very seriously gazes up at her. Pippa feels sick. “I saw you talking to Maxwell Montbank just now.

All five girls glare at her and Pippa can’t move, can only stand and blush and sputter, heart hammering, stomach rolling.

Hattie reaches up and pinches Pippa’s chin between her fingers. “Poor Pippa. You know you’re not _like_ that, it’s a shame you’re only using her, really. We know she’ll do anything you ask her. Water skiing doubles? Really? You said yourself she didn’t even want to. And what if mummy found out about Hardbroom? She’d pull you out of school _so_ fast. The very idea that you’ve been associating with - “

Mabel giggles shrilly. And Sarah’s hands are gone from her own as she straightens abruptly, tucking her hair behind her ears and fidgeting as she’s sandwiched between a suddenly flushing Angelique and a preening Alice. Hattie lets her go and Pippa spins around.

And looks right into Hecate’s dark and angry eyes.

“Hecate - “

Hecate shakes her head and turns on her heel even as Pippa reaches for her. “Hecate, please -“

It only spurs Hecate to move faster, her silver gown rippling like moonlight on water and Pippa’s heart stutters over both the image and her rising panic.

“Hecate, _stop_ \- Hecate, wait -“

Suddenly Maxwell Montbank is blocking her and Hecate is halfway across the room.

Pippa wants to scream.

“Hey, Aphrodite, I heard a rumor you wanted to dance with me -“

There’s a noise like a gust of wind across a chimney and suddenly all the fairy lights, strung bountiful across the across the room in graceful garlands, burst. Glass sprays everywhere, glittering as the lights sputter, and the students and staff scream, shoving each other as the music cuts out.

The room plunges to darkness. Only the faint and wavering flicker of the fire in the grate still glows, casting strange shadows across the room and up the walls.

Behind Maxwell, Pippa can see Hecate frozen, hand raised to transfer, staring at her in the dark. The room around them is in chaos, and Pippa can only duck around Maxwell’s bulky form, starting towards Hecate who shakes her head, eyes going hard.

 _I’m sorry,_  Pippa mouths, but Hecate merely gazes at her, frozen. She moves faster, dodging Mrs. Pence, shaking off Sarah who’s followed her, but she never makes it.

Hecate disappears in a swirl of silver.

She never speaks to Pippa again.

______

**Thirty Two Years Later**

“Did you really think that I wore a gold dress to the Lever’s ball just to spite you?” Pippa’s fingers move restlessly from where they thread through Hecate’s own. “You weren’t even _going_ that night, as far as I knew. I wouldn’t have ever tried to upstage you, you know that, don’t you?”

Hecate’s quiet for a long time, naked skin warm against Pippa’s own as they lay tangled in her bed, and Pippa nuzzles closer.

“I wanted to impress you,” Hecate says slowly, voice low.

Pippa raises her head a looks at her, surprised. “You did?”

“A surprise. I thought - “

Hecate breaks off, looking chagrined, and Pippa reaches out and smooths down the worry that’s formed between her brows.

“You thought?”

“I thought that maybe if you saw me like that, you would see me - well - see me in a new light.”

Smiling, Pippa releases Hecate’s hand and lets her own settle on Hecate’s hip instead.

“What kind of light?” She keeps her voice playful, teasing, and Hecate rolls her eyes.

“You know what kind.”

Pippa bites her lip, fingers pressing gently against Hecate's hip. “Tell me again.”

Hecate rolls them until they’re nose to nose. She brushes her own against Pippa’s cheek and sighs, gazing at her helplessly.

“I wanted you to look at me the way you’re looking at me now.”

Heart thrumming, Pippa moves her hand up and traces Hecate’s cheek. “I’ve always looked at you like this, I think. I didn’t realize why back then, not really. I was only just starting too. And when I saw you that night -“ she breaks off, trying to adjust to the weight of emotions that even the act of simply remembering draws up so tightly in her chest. She huffs, perturbed that after all these years it still stings. “I was so jealous when all the girls that night wanted to take you home. I already felt like you were _mine_ \- “

Hecate sits up and stares down at her. “What?”

“What, what?”

Shaking her head, Hecate’s eyebrows nearly sit in her hairline. “I - “ she pauses and looks alarmed. “Girls wanted to take me home?”

Pippa gazes up at her. “Yes?”

“ _You_ wanted to take me home?”

“Yes.” It’s said with utter certainty, and Hecate’s face crumbles, her forehead finding its way between her knees.

“Oh - oh, darling - don’t cry. Sweetheart - “

“But I thought - “

“I know,” Pippa whispers, twining herself around Hecate from behind, pulling her close. “I know what you thought. I didn’t know then - I didn’t know _how_ to know. I didn’t have the words to describe what I felt inside. But I know now.”

Hecate shakes her head. “I saw all of them around you. Touching you. Looking at you. Then looking at me - I thought they were saying I wasn’t good enough for you. That they were propositioning you.”

Pippa can’t help but laugh, pulling Hecate back until she’s cradled against Pippa’s chest, check against Pippa’s shoulder. “No darling. They wanted me to provide access to you. To ask me questions about you. They wanted to know what you _smelled_ like -“

Hecate jerks her head up in surprise.

They stare at each other.

Suddenly they’re laughing and Hecate shifts around so that she’s keeling before Pippa cupping her face in her hands.

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Vanilla,” Pippa murmurs, after moment of them simply gazing into each other’s eyes.

“Hmmm?”

“You smell,” Pippa whispers, leaninging in, “like vanilla.” She lets her lips linger on Hecate's, gasping when Hecate parts her own and their tongues brush. “And you taste,” she moans a little - and now it’s Hecate who’s gasping -  “like me.”

Again, Hecate pulls back, eyes wide, and, again, they laugh. Cheeks pink and smiles happy.

“I love you.” Pippa trails her fingers down Hecate’s shoulder and stills them just over her heart.

“I love you, too.”

Hecate’s eyes glint and Pippa moves back in, letting her nose brush against Hecate’s affectionately before kissing her, this time a little less than simply sweetly. They fall back into the covers and Hecate wraps her arms around her waist from where Pippa lays astride her, holding her close.

“Do you,” Pippa murmurs, lips busy on Hecate’s neck, “by any chance, still have that dress?”

Hecate arches and her fingers tightening against Pippa’s skin.

“Why?”

“Because,” Pippa intones, working her way lower, “I’d like to take it off you. Big fantasy of mine, really, darling.”

From between Hecate’s thighs she grins up at her, and Hecate laughs again, bright, and happy, and very, very pleased.

Thirty years later and Pippa is elated to find that her fantasy has nothing on reality.

Nothing even close.


End file.
